Providers of media content, such as cable television and satellite television, now offer their subscribers the ability to record content for later playback. Such recording typically occurs by way of a recording device, such as a disk drive, located within or external to, a set-top box or other content selection device at the customer premises. Alternatively, such recording can occur by way of a recording device within the media content provider's network, which conceivably spans multiple networks operated by multiple media content providers. To simplify the discussion, the term “Digital Video Recorder” or “DVR” will hereinafter refer to such a recording device, irrespective of whether it is located on the customer premise or within the network of the media content provider.
When a subscriber schedules recordings of content on a DVR, the recordings may overlap in time causing a potential recording conflict. Various factors can complicate the resolution of these potential recording conflicts. Thus, a need exists for a technique for processing recording requests with program time overlaps subject to resource constraints.